Ultra-Luxury Homes Issue

No limits
Finishes, amenities off the charts at new ultra-luxury projects
by Barry Pearce

What sorts of finishes and amenities can buyers expect in today’s ultra-luxury homes?

The only limits seem to be your imagination and pocketbook at the city’s newest premiere developments. You want the ability to order a filet mignon and a bottle of Dom from bed at 4 a.m.? Trump International Hotel & Tower, which offers condo buyers all of the services of a five-star hotel, provides 24-hour room service in addition to housekeeping, valet, dry cleaning, catering and other services.

It’s hard to beat the level of amenities at new hotel-condo projects such as the Elysian and Trump, but developments like Waterview Tower also have impressive spa facilities. At this 85-story tower by Teng Associates, residents will have access to a hospitality room with a gourmet kitchen, roof garden and dog run, as well as a fitness center with a 60-foot indoor lap pool, a Whirlpool, a sauna and steam and massage rooms.

Trump’s health club and spa will be 60,000 square feet, and the Elysian will have an 18,000-square-foot health facility. Many of the high-end buildings, however, are designed with comparatively small fitness centers, or none at all. Developers of some boutique properties say their buyers already belong to some of the best health clubs in the city. At 65 E. Goethe, developer Christopher Carley says, many buyers have built their own private gyms within their expansive homes for days when they can’t travel to the East Bank Club or another sports and fitness center.

“In one unit I mentioned to a buyer how nice it was that her exercise room overlooks the park,” Carley says. “She said, ‘That’s not my exercise room, that’s my husband’s. The wife has one and the husband another.”

And the extraordinary space that allows for that sort of lifestyle is one of the most noteworthy trends in today’s premiere properties. Buyers from the suburbs, especially empty nesters, are an increasingly important part of the ultra-luxury market. After selling large homes, they want to maintain a feeling of space and privacy even as they downsize, according to Charles Huzenis of Jameson Development, whose 50 E. Chestnut project offers just one unit per floor, each with a private elevator lobby.

Square footage has gone up at these developments, but at many, it also has gone simultaneously down. Buyers who own second and even third homes elsewhere often want smaller in-town units, and several projects offer a wide range of sizes, from condos with 700 square feet of space to full floors of 8,000 square feet or more – all at prices per square foot never before seen in city development.

Ceiling heights, on the other hand, have gone in only one direction – up. At Trump, they range from 10 feet on a regular floor to 16 feet in penthouses. The Palmolive Building has ceiling heights ranging from a minimum of nine-foot-seven to nearly 18 feet in penthouses.

And these voluminous spaces are, of course, decked out in the finest finishes money can buy. At this price point, buyers often have their own designers and architects, and some projects, such as LR Development’s 840 N. Lake Shore Drive and 65 E. Goethe, give them the option of purchasing space “raw” and finishing it themselves.

Many of the same names appear on finish lists at various projects: appliances by Sub-Zero, Miele, Viking, Bosch and Wolf. Granite, marble and limestone are everywhere as are premium hardwood floors, fireplaces, crown moldings and woods ranging from walnut and cherry to teak and special strains of mahogany.

Home theaters and “media rooms” with more electronics than NORAD are popular along with lots of other high-tech perks, including high-speed Internet connections and various versions of “smart house” technology that allow homeowners to control temperature, music, lighting and other functions from touch-screens on various walls. At the Palmolive Building, where even the bathrooms have computer ports, residents can let the valet know that they want their cars – or their guest’s car – brought out with the touch of an icon on this screen.

The term “lifestyle” has become a real estate cliché, but designers and developers in the highly competitive city market for ultra-luxury homes have done an impressive job of anticipating their buyers’ subtlest needs. Light switches are placed at lower levels in some buildings so as not to interfere with artwork, and climate-controlled wine storage rooms are provided for the building, or in some cases, for individual homes.

Radiant floor heating is popular both for its even, quiet functionality and because it eliminates the unsightly grills and vents that interrupt walls. Many of the master bathrooms in these homes are larger and more extravagant than entire condominiums in other buildings, with wide his and hers vanities, stunning marble tile, massive baths and separate showers with body sprays, rain showerheads and benches. At 65 E. Goethe, some units have not just his and hers vanities, but his and hers baths, and at the Mansions on Prairie, the master suite takes up an entire floor in the 5,885-square-foot model.

Each development has some unusual finishes designed to set it apart – Trump Tower’s Brazilian hardwood floors, the Palmolive Building’s deco-influenced brushed nickel hardware, the hand-forged ironwork at 65 E. Goethe – but at this price point, ranking finishes is purely a matter of taste.